danish west indies Stamps

A group of 53 islands to the east of Puerto Rico, the islands of St Thomas, St Croix and St John being the most important; the first stamp of the Danish West Indies was issued in November 1855, the 3c carmine imperf of which stamp collectors generally recognise 3 different versions, with yellow- white original gum as applied and kept in Copenhagen, with yellow gum as reapplied at St Thomas & with deep brown gum as reapplied at St Croix. The yellow- white original gum is rare.The same design was issued again imperforate in 1866 and perf 12½ in 1873 including a 4c ultramarine version, in 1870 privately rouletted examples were sold.

The most studied stamps are the bicoloured values issued between 1873 and 1902 which offer philatelists a wide range of different printings, colours, papers, perforations, inverted frames, plate flaws plus much else. Later issues include several elegant portrait definitive of three different Monarchs between 1905 and 1915.The stamps of Great Britain can be found with postmarks of the British Postal Agency at St Thomas, collectors can also search for postal stationery, private ship letter stamps and also the postal history which is highly regarded as so many vessels used the islands to transfer mail.The best stamp listings are probably those published by Stanley Gibbons or in the FACIT specialised catalogue.